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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Most people drove to the Kirby Health Center parking late Friday afternoon for a free flu shot.
				After all, it was a drive-through clinic put on by the Wilkes-Barre Health Department for city residents.
				Al Gordon walked in, sat down and rolled up his sleeve.
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get the flu,&rdquo; Gordon, 83, said after a nurse stuck him with a hypodermic needle. He gets a shot annually, he said.
				Gordon made the short walk from his apartment on West Market street, past the line of vehicles on North Franklin Street waiting to get into the lot.
				&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the sense of driving when I live down on the corner,&rdquo; Gordon reasoned.
				Friday was the first of two clinics; the second is Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the health center at 71 N. Franklin St. Identification, such as a drivers license to prove residency, is required at registration. High-dose flu vaccine for people 65 and over is available.
				City Health Department Director Henry Radulski estimated, between the two days, there were 600 doses on hand of the quadrivalent influenza vaccine to protect against four different flu viruses.
				The department has held the drive-through clinics in the past and Radulski said they also serve as an exercise of the city&rsquo;s public health emergency preparedness plan. The next time might not be a drill if there is a vaccine available for COVID-19, he noted.
				Virginia Falzone tested the plan while waiting her turn for an opening in one of the three stations where nurses administered the shots.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very concerned about the virus and now the flu. I want to be protected,&rdquo; Falzone said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very glad Wilkes-Barre is doing this.&rdquo;
				A few cars behind Falzone idled Iva Hanlon.
				&ldquo;I get my flu shot every year,&rdquo; Hanlon, 83, said. This was her first time while behind the wheel, however.
				&ldquo;I figure if you get whatever vaccine there is, you&rsquo;re using your head,&rdquo; Hanlon said.

Drive-through to avoid the flu